Making Time
by Nurphs
Summary: Pan is a recent university graduate who dreams of climbing the career ladder, she lands an exceptional position at the leading engineering firm in the country, Capsule Corporation. She has high hopes for this great opportunity, but encounters a coworker who she immediately butts heads with.
1. Chapter 1: Introductions

**Disclaimer: **I do not own any of these characters based of DBZ or DBGT.

**Summary**: Pan is a recent university graduate who dreams of climbing the career ladder, she lands an exceptional position at the leading engineering firm in the country, Capsule Corporation. She has high hopes for this great opportunity, but encounters a coworker who she immediately butts heads with.

**A/N:** This is my first attempt at writing, and I am looking for any constructive criticism. Spelling, grammar, structure. If anything is unclear, please point it out.

Also, there is no saiyan references in this. Trunks and Pan have never met, and are only 5 years apart.

Chapter 1

'Okay. This is it.' She thought. 'Why I studied so hard and had no life these past years.'

She had landed a position at the top engineering firm in Japan straight out of university, and today was her first day at the infamous Capsule Corporation. She was still amazed she had attained an interview, let alone the actual job. At only 23 she had her doubts about taking such a serious position so early in her professional life, but there was not a chance she would pass up this opportunity. Not to mention how proud her family was of her, and all her hard work.

With all the praise she had received, there came a few concerns. Her mother, however proud she was of her daughter, was worried she was taking life to seriously, and was missing out on opportunities and experiences of others her age. Her father was in fact the opposite. Thrilled at her hard work through school and dedication to strengthening her mind, she had proven him wrong that she might not be cut out for advanced academics. She had been a rather rambunctious and spoiled child that seemed unconcerned with doing anything practical with her life, but once entrance exams had come around she had completely surprised him by dedicating the majority of her time to studying. She had not let up since.

But now, now this was all that work was about, landing a top job in her field of computer engineering at the leading company in the country. She was young, ambitious, and hardworking, and determined to be the best at what she did. She was also suffering from 'first day jitters'.

She let out a long breath, and then let a smirk of victory come to her lips. 'Ready' she thought.

She entered into the lobby and made her way to the elevators that would take her to her floor and department and finally to the desk of the department receptionist.

"Good morning miss. How can I help you today?" the receptionist greeted cheerfully.

"Yes, good morning. My name is Pan Son, and I am starting on the development team today."

"Oh yes! Ms. Son, Mr. Blystone is expecting you in his office. It's just down the hall and on the left room 805. And welcome to the department Ms. Son."

She thanked the woman and made her way down the hall, trying not skip and feeling a tad giddy. She quickly scolded herself for acting a little like a child. The door to the office was open, but she lightly knocked at the open door. At the sound a portly and aged man with a bushy white mustache looked up from his desk.

"You must be Ms. Son. I'm so glad to finally meet you." He greeted warmly as he stood up and came around his desk to shake her hand. "I'm Jeremiah Blystone, but you can just call me Jeremiah. I am the human resources rep for this department, I'll be giving you your introductions today as well as presenting you with what might seem like an endless pile of paperwork to fill out." He gave her a wink. She felt at ease, and gave a small genuine chuckle at his small jest. "Don't worry though it won't be as bad as I've made it seem. Mostly just signatures we'll need. Now, let's get you around the floor to meet everyone and I'll hand you off to the head of your division."

Pan was beaming. Everyone they came across seemed very welcoming and pleasant. She was looking forward to the day to day. Near the end of her tour they came to some of the offices designated for the senior engineers Jeremiah had explained.

"Most of them will be project leads for you at some point or another, and perhaps we'll have one of these offices for you some day. I've seen your marks as well as your recommendations from professors. You're going to do quite well here Ms. Son." He said in his jolly tone.

"Thank you Jeremiah, I really hope I don't disappoint." She blushed slightly as a big grin came across her face. She was accustomed to praise, but now, with new expectations it was nice to have a confidence boost for her first day.

They came to the last office for the senior engineers and Jeremiah gave a knock and paused to wait for a reply. When it came he entered slowly as Pan followed.

"Good morning Trunks! I'd like you to meet the newest member of our team, Ms. Pan Son. Ms. Son this is our star senior engineer Mr. Trunks Briefs."

"Nice to meet you Mr. Briefs." Pan greeted respectfully. She saw a figure with broad shoulders, a strong jaw line, and perfectly placed lavender hair. Aside from one cowlick in the front which looked like it had been stuck from a distressed hand to forehead placement. He seemed completely enthralled in his work and haggard at the same time. He finally seemed to notice they were there and finally looked up and she caught a glimpse of his startling blue eyes. She really didn't want to deal with an attraction in the workplace.

The office occupant, who had been hunched at his computer, finally looked up. Exhausted from working nonstop the past week, he had barely noticed he had visitors. He was startled when he heard the greeting and had to take a second switch from 'working nonstop mode' to 'social mode'.

He shot up and fumbled with his words. "Yeah? I mean… sorry. Good morning. What were you saying?"

"I see you've been hard at work Trunks. This is our newest engineer, Ms. Pan Son. Straight out of university, with exceptional marks I might add. A lot of potential with this one, we expect great things from her."

Pan's face immediately blushed and she tilted her head down slightly, feeling very embarrassed about the bragging Jeremiah seemed to be doing for her. She was very proud of her accomplishments, but she was no boaster. The last thing she wanted to do was come off to her new coworkers as some sort of cocky know-it-all graduate.

"Well how very nice for her. I'm sure everyone else here who received high marks in school make only subpar contributions, but thankfully, this girl is now here to redeem us. I'm sorry but I don't think I caught your name."

'Shit.' Trunks thought. Did that really just come out of his mouth? He had been cooped up in his office lately and the only real social interactions he had had were with his mother; who he was now blaming silently for the rude dribble that had left his mouth. He tried to think of a quick apology, but a reply came sooner than he'd hoped.

"Pardon me, but I see no girls in the room. There is a woman though, and her name is Pan Son. But you can just call me Ms. Son. At least, that is what you can call me when you are thanking me for this so called 'redemption' I'll deliver." Pan's face twitched slightly as she maintained the scowl that had presented itself at the 'courtesy' she had been delivered. She was trying very hard to reign in her short temper.

Trunks finally took a look at the 'woman' standing in his office. A slim and very fit young lady with dark features and a spark, he assumed from anger, in her eyes. The button up blouse caught her curves in a teasing manner and the buttons were done just above where he would have liked them. Her straight black hair landed softly with a subtle curl at her shoulders and brushed against the smoother pale skin of her neck gently. He shook himself brusquely out of these thoughts and realized he had not expected her to respond with such authority or respond at all really. He was surprised and intrigued, but before he could stop himself he shot a retort. "My sincerest apologies 'Ms. Son', but I didn't realize we had had a quota to meet this month."

Pan's mouth dropped open. He was referring to companies having quotas they sometimes have to meet for diversity. Basically, devaluing all her hard work and accusing her of only obtaining this position because she was a woman. "Why you chauvinistic son of a…."

"Now, now, these introductions have been very interesting today haven't they?" Jeremiah was trying to break the hostile air that now flooded the room. He had been shocked by Trunks's abruptness. He was usually very polite and exceptionally charming with women. He groped for words and tried to think of a hasty way to retreat and avoid an argument, and mostly paperwork he would have to fill out if this escalated any further. "Pan, I forgot I need to get that paperwork I promised you processed before noon. So I better you get you started on that right away." He ushered Pan out the door as quickly as he could as she glared at the young man who had just made her blood boil.

With the office safely behind them Jeremiah hastily made a suggestion to try and detour the young woman's anger. "Why don't I take you down to the cafeteria for some tea or maybe some sweets? We have some scrumptious cake down there and nothing goes better with that than some nice calming chamomile tea. After that I'll bring you back up to meet with the department head." He continued to steer her down the hall and towards the elevators. 'What in the world has gotten into him?' he thought.

'What in the hell has gotten into me?' Trunks thought to himself with his forehead planted on his desk. 'Maybe the stress is getting to me finally, and maybe I need a vacation.' He leaned back in his chair and let out a sigh.

"Well at least she can hold her own when someone's being a complete jackass to her." He said to himself in his empty office smirking.

'And if I didn't know any better, I would say I enjoyed that exchange. Everyone is usually so busy walking on eggshells when talking to me that it's hard to ever actually have a decent conversation. I really can't believe I was so rude to her though. I just made a terrible first impression and I really don't need any hostility added to my stress here. She was actually quite striking, and I can't get over that fire she had in her eyes. I really need to think of an apology and pursue some more "intriguing" conversation.'


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: **I do not own any of these characters based of DBZ or DBGT.

**A/N:** Thanks for the reviews and follows guys! I proofread this a few times, but it's kind of late and I apologize if there's any errors. Let me know if you see any. :)

Chapter 2

Pan sat at her new desk, in her new cubicle, in her new element. She was mulling over the morning's events, and had decided that the good far outweighed the bad. There was no need to dwell on other people's ignorance.

'Even if those people have a jaw line you could cut glass on.' Her thoughts strayed as she was thumbing through the paperwork Jeremiah had given her to fill out. Wincing as she realized the direction of her thoughts she quickly reminded herself of Mr. Briefs', less than pleasant, courtesies that morning.

'Who does he think he is? He has no idea how hard I've worked or whether or not I deserve this job; which I do!' Pan closed her eyes and let out a sigh, trying to remove the scowl from her face. She was acting like a child, and she knew it. There was no need to get worked up over some jerk.

"You'll always meet jerks in life I suppose. There's no need to get worked up over this one. I have much more important things to focus on." She said to herself as she was making sure the last of the papers were in order. As if on cue, Jeremiah poked his head around the cubicle opening.

"Hello again Ms. Son. I was just checking to see where you're at on that paperwork."

"Oh yes. I was just putting the last of it in order, and please, call me Pan." She smiled and handed him the paperwork.

"Ah, good. I'll get this processed soon, and how about I take you to meet Carol."

"Carol?... Oh, the woman I interviewed with? Oh yeah, I guess I didn't see her this morning." Pan was a little annoyed with herself that Carol had slipped her mind.

Jeremiah chuckled a little. "Oh she's not just a person who does interviews, she's actually the head of the department, and your new boss."

Pan was a bit startled and quite embarrassed. "Oh…Oh my goodness. I didn't even think about that, she didn't say anything." Then a flustered grin came to her face. "Well I guess I'm glad she didn't. Or I might have been a nervous wreck during the interview."

Jeremiah led her down the hall, past the senior engineers' offices and around a corner to find many windows that gave a picturesque view of the city. Just past the windows was the door with the title, "Carol Marks" and below that "Head of Engineering". Pan was thrilled. She had admired the woman immediately, but now realizing Carol was the head of the department she a whole new sense of respect for the woman. She couldn't wait to learn all she could from her.

"Good morning Carol. I'm sure you remember Ms. Son?" Jeremiah made a small gesture to Pan and she squeaked a quick greeting.

"Oh yes! Great to see you again Pan. I've been wondering where you two have been. I expected you a little earlier." There was a twinge of annoyance in her voice, but Pan couldn't blame her since she thought Jeremiah had planned on bringing her earlier. She frowned remembering there were probably scheduled to come after meeting all the senior engineers, and cursed Mr. Briefs for being the cause of their delay.

"I'm sorry Carol that was my fault. I was running late this morning and forgot to eat breakfast. I insisted on showing Ms. Son the cafeteria so I could grab some lunch." Pan was a little surprised, and immediately felt guilty for the real cause of their delay, which had been her temper; _which had been fueled by an arrogant jackass_. 'I really need to keep my temper in check, and remember to apologize and thank Jeremiah for this later.'

"Well you are here now, and I am eager for her to get her feet wet." Carol flashed a big smile. "You can go ahead and leave us Jeremiah. I'll take it from here."

"Welcome to the big leagues kiddo." He quietly said to Pan on his way out, giving her a reassuring wink. And she gave him a grateful smile.

"Well Pan, I am so happy to have you here. I can call you Pan right?" Pan gave a quick nod with a small smile. "Terrific. Let me give you a break down of what we're working on right now. Then we can talk a little about what you think, and where we think you might be the best fit at the moment. I'll only have you do some light work to begin with to let you get a feel for it. Then we can get you a juicier assignment."

'Straight to the point.' Thought Pan. 'My kind of woman.'

Carol went through the different projects the department was currently working on. Pan was amazed at the range of ideas being developed, and at first was a little overwhelmed. They ended up deciding on a security system project currently being developed would be the best way to get Pan acquainted with her new position. They were finishing up and having a little chat about decent sushi places when the office door flew open.

"Carol, I really don't understand how you expect me to get this lighting system to run how it's supposed to with just a state machine algorithm. It's just ridiculous to think so." Trunks rattled on until he realized he had interrupted. Seeing Pan was the current visitor in the office he gave a smirk that then turned into a smile as he saw the grimace on her face upon realizing it was him intruding. "My apologies Carol. I didn't realize you had an appointment."

"Not at all Trunks. Pan and I were just finishing up. You've met Ms. Son right? I was hoping she made it around for a tour of the offices and not just the cafeteria." Carol responded, a slight infliction in her voice being evident when said his name. Pan had noticed a spark that came to Carol's eyes and immediately felt as if she was the intruder.

"Oh yes. We had the pleasure earlier, or at least I did. I'm sure my attitude was received less than pleasurably." He gave her a sly smirk and wink. Her uncomfortable feeling increased, and she hoped she would be excused soon. "I was a tad 'ill tempered' this morning, and I'm afraid I took it out on Ms. Son here."

"Oh dear, Trunks. That doesn't sound like you at all. You're usually so charming." Carol now had a playful tone, and Pan had to fight the urge to roll her eyes. "Well I'm sure you can make it up to her soon." Pan's eyes grew wide. "We've decided she'll be starting on the SecureEx project. I think it'll be the best place for her to start, and who better to be her first project lead than you?"

"No one of course." A cocky grin crossing his face.

'Perfect .' He thought. 'Now I'll have plenty of time from _intriguing_ conversations.' "I assume you'll want her to start with some small tasks and work her way up from there?"

"As always you've read my mind Trunks." Carol had a playful smile present as she said these words. Pan was now wondering if this was even the same woman she had been talking to five minutes ago. "Pan you can start reading up on the current documentation we have for the project on the department server. It shouldn't be too hard to find. There will be a meeting for it tomorrow morning at 10am, so make sure you're up to speed by then." Carol's eyes hadn't left Trunks since he had entered. Pan saw this as her cue to leave and did not hesitate to ask. She quickly stood up to go.

"It was nice seeing you again Ms. Marks, and again thank you for this opportunity. I'll get to that reading now." Pan headed for the door.

"I'll check in with you before the end of the day to see how the research is coming." Trunks offered as she passed him; still wearing his cocky smirk.

Pan only responded with a look of annoyance and didn't even hesitate at his words. Closing the door behind her and letting an eye roll befall her face, she quickly started for her work station, hearing the blinds to the office windows close behind her. Her face turned to disgust.

'That's why he's so arrogant. You can pretty much do anything if you're keeping the boss _happy_.' She rolled her eyes once more in revulsion. 'I really wish I would have known the project leads, and that Carol wasn't such a tramp.' Pan stopped in her tracks. That wasn't fair of her to think. Carol Marks was a smart and successful woman, and what she did with her hormones was no concern of hers. It certainly didn't give her the right to think less of her or call her a tramp. 'At least she has good taste I suppose.' Wincing and resuming towards her destination she wasn't paying attention to her surrounds, and plowed right into someone.

"Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry. I was not paying attention." Pan stumbled about and went to help the man she had knocked over.

"No. No you weren't, but I'll live. I've suffered worse." A tall slender man with messy brown hair replied.

The embarrassment on Pan's face was very clear and the man chuckled at her. "No really. I'm fine. You must be our new engineer. I'm Neil."

"I'm Pan. Nice to meet you. Sorry again. I've just been trying to process my first day so far and I was just distracted." Pan was still trying to wipe the embarrassment from her face, and silently cursed Mr. Briefs for the second time that day; blaming him for the mishaps of the day. 'You can't just blame all your misfortunes on him. Stop being so immature, you're an adult so act like one.' She scolded herself once more.

"No really. No big deal. How's your first day going, aside from it having to be 'processed'?" He chatted as they began to head towards the engineers' cubicles.

"The good definitely outweighs the bad." She heard a hint of doubt in her own voice and frowned a bit. "I'm still trying to comprehend that I actually got this job, but I think it'll sink in by the end of the week. Right now I'm going to start some of the reading for the project I'll being working on."

"Oh really, which project is that?" He responded with genuine curiosity in his voice.

"SecureX."

"I'm on that as well." She stopped when they came to her cubicle. "If you need any help or pointers or anything I'm just your neighbor, so just shout." He gave her a warm jesting smile as he pointed in the direction of his workstation. "Nice to meet you Pan." He already has his back turned and was heading towards reception.

"You too!" She gave a little wave, and then realized his back was to her and slid into her cubicle hoping no one saw her.

'I really thought this day would go differently…' She thought as she slumped down into her chair. She logged into her computer and began her research. She became so involved with the reading that she completely lost track of time. It was a quarter til 5 when she finally managed to check the time.

'Today really hasn't been so bad. Mostly just one infuriating man and first day jitters is all.' She leaned back and stretched her arms up and sighed.

"And I've almost read all the documentation. At least this day is ending on a high note." Forgetting she was speaking out loud, she was startled when a response came.

"It's not over yet." Trunks was leaning at the opening, briefcase in his hand, and his suit jacket held over his shoulder. He was wearing that arrogant smirk Pan was starting to despise. 'Maybe if that's all he was wearing.' She immediately furrowed her eyebrows in irritation with herself.

"It will be. Once I spend these last few minutes finishing up my reading." Pan replied coldly.

Trunks couldn't help but be amused by her irritation, but felt the need to at least make an attempt at playing nice. He'd have plenty of time to her annoy her later. "Hey now, take it easy. I was only messing with you. Everyone usually heads out around now anyway. You'll have plenty of time to finish that in the morning before the meeting." He gave her a wink, which merited him an eye roll from Pan. He figured that was progress from the scowl, and decided the apology could be postponed. He wasn't very good at them anyhow, and this way she'd still give him that angry face he was starting to find cute. "I'll see you at the meeting in the morning Pan. It was lovely meeting you." He gave her an actual smile and headed on his way.

Pan sat there surprised. 'Lovely to meet me? Well that was unexpected. What does that mean? Why did it seem like he was trying to be nice? Was that an actual smile? An actual adorable smile? Oh jeeze Pan. Stop.' She placed her head on her desk in defeat. She was not looking forward to working with a man that made her so flustered.


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer:** I do not own any characters from DB, DBZ, or DBGT

**A/N:** Sorry this is a short chapter, it was longer, but I hated what I had and scrapped it. I also apologize it's taken me a bit to update. I have a million and one things to take care of at the moment, but I'll try and be a little more frequent with the updates. Again, thanks for the feedback I've gotten. Please feel free to keep sending any that you have, I really want to learn and become better at this. Thanks guys, enjoy!

Chapter 3

Pan sighed and took another sip of her coffee. She gathered her thoughts as she tried to review the documentation she had finished reading earlier that morning.

'Why am I letting such a ridiculously small thing get to me?' Pan had not slept well. The goodbye Trunks had left her with yesterday had being replaying in her mind all night. 'Why did he smile at me like that? Why did I enjoy it so much?' Then a strange thought crept into her mind.

'Wait a minute… Is this…Is this what a crush feels like?' All the time Pan had been young she had never seemed to understand why other girls would sometimes get so giddy about boys. She had always been too concerned with studying or family or anything really, boys had always been at the bottom of her priorities.

'Huh… Interesting…' She thought as she sipped her coffee. 'Surely that can't be it. I find him far too irritating to have a _crush._' She furrowed her brow and brought her hand up to pinch her nose. 'That would very inconvenient if that were the case, but, I am an adult. It's not possible for me to have something as childish as a _crush_.'

Lost in her frustration she hadn't noticed Neil peek his head over the cubicle wall.

"Good morning Pan." He said quite cheerfully.

Startled, Pan looked up suddenly and her coffee slipped from her hand and tumbled down onto her blouse. Luckily, she had gotten it early that morning and it wasn't as scalding as it could have been, but it still left a nice stain across her chest.

"Damn." Pan cursed as she frantically tried to soak up the coffee from the blouse with a napkin.

"Ah! Sorry Pan! I didn't mean to surprise you. I was just seeing if you wanted to walk to the meeting together." It was evident he was trying to hold in a laugh, but a twinge of guilt also befell his face.

"It's alright Neil. It's just a shirt." She blew air up from her mouth in a disappointed fashion. "I wanted to make some more awkward first impressions today anyway." She said in a sarcastic tone, but followed with a small smirk.

Neil gave a forced uncomfortable chuckle and more guilt came to his face. "Well… Shall we head to the meeting then? I am really sorry Pan."

"Yes let's, and really, no big deal." She said with a forgiving smile." You don't need to mention it again." She stood up and then they made their way to the main conference room.

Trunks was heading towards his 10 am meeting when he saw Pan and one of his coworkers, Neil, walking ahead of him. 'Good she's made some friends already, maybe she's settling in a bit better than I suspected… No thanks to me.' Trunks paused a second. Why did he care about her settling in? She's just an underling, an intriguing one, but no one of real significance to him. 'Hmm…Interesting.' He pondered as he resumed walking and decided to catch up to the two.

"Good morning fellow staff." Trunks greeted as he slid into the space between the two.

Pan nodded slightly trying to ignore him and instead focused her attention on sopping up a bit more of the coffee off her shirt.

"Morning Trunks! How's that lighting system algorithm coming along?" Neil asked chirpily.

Trunks winced slightly. "Please Neil, spare me a few more carefree minutes before I have to get into that fiasco. We could instead discuss what happened to Ms. Son's shirt. It's awfully early to be trying to draw attention to that area." Trunks turned and shot his arrogant smirk at a very annoyed Pan.

"Careful _Mr. Briefs_. Your chauvinism is showing." Pan said scowling, but still focusing on her blouse.

A mischievous grin appeared on Trunks's face. "Oh, pardon me _Ms. Son_…"

Pan stopped and put her hand to his mouth to silence him. "Let me stop you right there. I have a feeling you're going to say something that's just going to make me angry; because I've noticed you have the tendency to say very sexist and irritating things around me. I'm sure it's not entirely you're fault, being attractive I doubt women let you know how chauvinistic you're being; But how about today you don't, because honestly I am not in the mood for it right now." Without a pause Pan turned on her heel and headed toward the conference room where Neil had already escaped too.

Trunks stood speechless, trying to sift through all she had just said to him. 'Did she just basically shush me? Has anyone ever done that besides my parents?' Trunks couldn't think of a single instance. He slowly began his way to the conference room perplexed, and then a small genuine grin came to his face as he entered the room. 'She thinks I'm attractive.'


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: **I do own any characters from DB, DBZ, or DBGT.

**A/N: **Had some extra time today, so I wrote this. I need to work on commas I know. Let me know if you see any errors at all! And I apologize about the random engineering stuff, if there's anything that doesn't make sense just let me know and I'll try to clarify. Thanks for the reviews guys, they're very motivating!

Chapter 4

Trunks sat in his office thinking over the surprise lecture he had received earlier that morning. He was still astonished that the _delightful_ Ms. Son had once again, chosen an assertive tone to address him. He was conflicted. On the one hand, he was overly intrigued with, and slightly _stimulated_, by this girl and the refreshing change of pace her dialogues offered. At the same time, it was this exact type of dialogue that caused his ego to stumble over itself. At this realization, he became irritated.

"If I wanted to be lectured I would actually _invite_ my mother to barge into my office more." He said to himself, but then he thought about it a little more. 'No. My mother lectures and scolds me like I'm still a child. That's not what she's doing.' Trunks sat for several minutes contemplating the differences between this girl's, no, this woman's discussions and his mother's.

And then it clicked. "She challenges me."

A satisfied smirk appeared on his face. No one challenged him anymore. Anyone not his family always seemed to be falling over themselves to please him. 'They all want something from me.' He thought. 'Always willing to agree for a favor, or my money, or my bed. Is that what she's after? Is she just using a different angle than everyone else to catch me off guard?'

"Everyone always wants something." Trunks said out loud, twisting his mouth into a frustrated frown.

Then there was a knock at his door.

"See." He said to himself, frustrated he couldn't finish with his current thoughts. "Come in."

Carol strolled through the door with a playful smile on her face.

'Not this again.' Trunks didn't used to mind Carol's flirtations to begin with, but lately she seemed to be getting an aggressive gleam in her eye, and it wasn't something Trunks was interested in. His _colorful _reputation was well known, but charming his coworkers and superiors were one thing, and what he did in his time off was entirely different.

"Hello Trunks. I just decided to peek in to see how that lighting system program is coming along?" Carol subtlety licked her lips and tilted her chin to the side. "That deadline is coming up awfully quick and I wouldn't want my star engineer to tarnish his reputation."

Trunks stopped himself from rolling his eyes and instead let out an annoyed sigh. Partly from her attempted subtle seduction tactics he had seen from more than enough women, and the rest because he was fed up with this lighting system he had been working on. He pinched his nose in frustration at the thought of it.

"I'm still doing battle with it Carol, but I will have this done before the deadline. I can promise you that." He gave her an assured smile and hoped she would let him get back to working on it. Instead she decided to linger and continue with her 'somewhat' understated flirtations.

"I'll have to hold you to that promise. Maybe you need some fresh eyes to take a look at it for you, Mr. Briefs." She said his name in a lower tone as she took a small step towards his desk.

'Shit.' Trunks thought as he rubbed his forehead. 'I would really prefer to not deal with this right now.'

"You know what Carol? That is probably just what I need to do." He gave a big satisfied smile that caught her off guard and she gave him a hopeful look.

"I'm going to go take this issue to my team right now so they can take a look and maybe give me some fresh perspective. Thanks Carol." He gave her a triumph nod as he walked past her and out of his office.

Pan was sitting at her desk trying to work through some of the small bugs, from finished parts of the system, to get acclimated. She was mostly trying to push down the small guilty feeling she had from this morning. 'Maybe I shouldn't have been so stern. I don't know if what he was going to say would have been offensive. Well… I'm only 75% sure it was probably going to be offensive. Oh god and I said he was attractive. How did I let that tumble out of my mouth? I'm sure it won't come up. I bet he didn't even notice I said it. He probably needed someone to point out his inappropriate behavior though. I doubt anyone calls him out; all because of that face, that perfectly chiseled face.' Pan now had her head resting against her hand as she closed her eyes and thought about the lines that made up the perfect symmetry of his appearance.

"Sleeping on the job is not recommended if you plan to do well here _Ms. Son_." Her eyes shot open to see the very face she had been trying to picture. A blush crept to her cheeks as she fluttered her eyelids and tried to regain her footing in the situation.

"Oh… I'm sorry Trunks. I was just closing them to rest my eyes for a second. I've been staring at the computer screen too long trying to fix these defects."

Trunks gave her a confused looked. They had still only encountered each other a few times, but this was the first time she had addressed him by his first name; He couldn't help but like the way it rolled off her tongue, and the blush she wore on her face since he had startled her.

Pan noticed his confused looked, and she quickly realized her error and felt embarrassed. 'He may be an arrogant jackass, but he's still my superior and deserves some respect.' As much as she didn't want to give him the satisfaction of an apology, she felt obligated to right her mistake.

"Oh. I'm sorry Mr. Briefs. I didn't mean to sound so disrespectful. Um, these bugs I've been working on just have me a little flustered." Pan tried to shake the thoughts from her head that had her face still burning.

"No… that's quite alright. You can call me Trunks. I'd prefer it really. I like a casual environment between colleagues. Or else we'd probably all go a little mad from the work." He laughed the last few words and gave her a soft smile.

Pan also gave a laugh in agreement and felt the blush burn a little brighter on her cheeks. 'Shit, I'm sure I look ridiculous.' She slightly winced with her thought.

Trunks couldn't help but notice the blush still on her face. 'Am I making her blush?' He suddenly realized he was staring at her a bit too considerately and remembered his reason for visiting the cubicles.

"Speaking of work, I was wondering if you would want to take a look at something for me. I was going to grab the rest of the team for a quick meeting, but I'd rather just go around to all of you individually. I don't mind the excuse to get up and stretch my legs." He also had decided he was enjoying his conversation with Pan and wanted to carry it on a bit longer.

"Oh? Is it something you want me to look at right now? I still had a few more of these defects to look over." She was actually eager to work on anything other than those.

"Um, yeah, if you wouldn't mind, those can wait. This though, I'd equate with hand-to-hand combat. I'd really appreciate a pair of fresh eyes to help me out." He shook his head in slight frustration with his problem and finished with a boyish smile that had a hint of desperation. He really was overwhelmed with this matter.

Pan blushed again, and internally scolded herself, but managed a reply. "Yes of course. Just tell me what I need to do."

Trunks pulled a stray chair to her desk and walked her through the issue he had been having. He ended up staying at her desk the rest of the afternoon as they both went over the system and tried to solve the glitches. Near the end of the day Trunks was rather impressed with Pan's intellect and was feeling more than guilty about his comments from their first encounter.

Pan was initially still a tad flustered, but as the afternoon wore on, she was feeling more at ease, and even found herself enjoying his company. 'Good.' She thought. 'He won't be so bad to work with. When he's not acting like an arrogant spoiled child he can be moderately pleasant.'

Before either of them realized it, it was 4:30. "Weren't you going to ask the rest of the team to look at this as well? I know we made some progress today, but I'm sure you still wouldn't mind some more eyes looking at this." Pan suddenly had remembered his earlier statement, and was worried he thought she needed to be guided through it. "I mean, I hope you didn't think you had to walk me through all that, because I'm more than capable of understanding the system."

Trunks heard the slight defensiveness in her voice and gave a small laugh. "Ha. No Pan. I didn't think that at all. I know you're very capable. You more than proved that today." He gave her a playful wink, and was happy he didn't receive an eye roll or scowl in response. "I thought we were working reasonably well together and didn't want to interrupt the progress we were making. We'll have a team meeting tomorrow and we'll all sit down and work on this together. The deadline for this component is Friday and I really want to make sure we meet that."

"Oh." Pan felt slightly embarrassed again, and kicked herself mentally for the assumption.

"I don't think we have much else to get through though. We got the majority of the issue worked out today hopefully. Thank you by the way. I was going crazy working on that. I'm really glad you could help." He gave her a thankful smile, and was very happy he was going make up for all the sleep he had lost that past few weeks because of this component.

"Of course. It is my job." She replied in a casual matter-of-fact way. 'Idiot. Couldn't you have articulated anything better than that?' Pan smiled despite her mental thrashing.

Trunks lingered in the chair for a moment, looking thoughtfully at her face. "You're different." He said with a smile.

Pan, startled by his sudden choice of words, replied warily. "Excuse me?"

Trunks felt his face redden, and stumbled over his words. "I'm sorry…I. That sounded bad. I meant it in a good way I swear. I should go. I just remembered I need to make a quick visit to the top floor before I leave today. I'll send an email about the meeting tomorrow." He waved as he nervously left her cubicle. 'What was that? When was the last time I was embarrassed? Or blushed for that matter? Get a hold of yourself Trunks, you're acting ridiculous.'

Pan was left at her desk gaping. 'What just happened? Different? How was I meant to take that?'


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: **I do not own any characters from DB, DBZ, or DBGT

**A/N:** Sorry it's been a week. Been a tad busy. Thanks for the reviews again guys!

Chapter 5

Friday had come rather quicker than Pan had expected. She had just left the last team meeting for the lighting system that they had finally finished on the deadline. She felt a sense of pride in her work that she had been missing since graduating. Pan now sat at her desk while trying to think of something to work on for a short time before the lunch hour came. A familiar face popped over the cubicle wall and greeted her with a smile.

"Hi again Neil." Pan said with a bored smile.

"Hey Pan. I know you're probably sick of me since we've all been stuck in the conference room the past few days, but Sasha and I were wondering if you wanted to join us for lunch. It would give you a chance to chat and take a break fromwork. It seems they've kept you pretty busy for your first week."

"Sasha?..." Pan questioned, trying to recall meeting someone named that during her tour.

"Have you not met her yet? She's the receptionist for the department, and also my lady love."

Pan rolled her eyes at his cheesy comment, but smiled back in a teasing manner. "Oh. I see now. That's why you're always in a cheery mood and never at your work station when I have a question."

Neil gave her an embarrassed grin accompanied by a shrug. "Ha, yeah I guess that might be it. So what do you say?"

"Sure, why not? Some non-work socialization would be nice."

Pan sat quietly eating her sandwich in the cafeteria while across from her Neil lovingly watched Sasha eat her salad; the salad had Sasha's full attention. She was trying not to chuckle at the sight when Sasha abruptly broke the silence.

"So Neil told me you gave Trunks a good scolding earlier this week." She said with a curious smile.

"What?" Pan nearly choked on her sandwich. She had almost forgotten all about that. Trunks had been avoiding her since his awkward statement earlier that week. Obliging him, she had spoken to him little and tried to keep him at the back of her mind. Although, during the team meetings this week she often caught herself admiring him when he spoke and found herself paying more than considerate attention to his face. She could have sworn she caught a slight blush from him a few times when they would make eye contact, she then would find herself doing the same.

"You know, Tuesday morning, Neil said he made some comment about a stain on your shirt and you put him in his place." Sasha had a look on her face that made it clear her wits and tact might be lacking, but Pan found her nice enough and tried to hide the annoyed look that had come to her face.

"Oh yes, that. Well someone had to put him in his place. It was not an appropriate comment for the work place and I don't think he should get a pass because he has a nice face." Pan replied confidently.

"Oh it is a nice face, and he is probably more flirtatious than he ought to be." Sasha said looking up and appearing to be pondering a bit. Neil gave a frown at her words. "I've just never thought anyone would have the gall to talk to the president's son like that."

Pan choked again and grasped for her water. "I…. I'm sorry. What now?" Pan's eyes had gone wide and she asked the question more of herself than Sasha, but she provided an answer despite.

"You know. The president, Bulma Briefs. Trunks Briefs… Briefs." Sasha had both her hands out as to weigh something in each, to help explain.

Pan smacked her forehead. 'How could I have been so stupid not to realize that?'

"Hey Pan, don't be too hard on yourself. Trunks is a grown man. He's not going to run and tell his mother on you." Neil tried to reassure her seeing the frustration on her face.

"Yeah Pan. From what Neil said about you two working together later that day I don't think you have anything to worry about." Sasha said with a smile.

Pan scowled at Neil. "Neil's been saying a lot lately hasn't he? What was said about us working together Sasha?" Neil gave a nervous smile and shrug.

Sasha replied more than happily. "Oh, just that you two sounded like you were getting along quite well with each other." Sasha winked at her. "You know he is the most eligible bachelor in the city."

Pan's face turned beat red and her brow furrowed in frustration. She let out a long sigh and she tried to regain her composure. "I fear Neil here has given you the wrong impression. Mr. Briefs and I are only colleagues and nothing more. And thank you for the information Sasha, but anyone's marital status is of no concern of mine."

Sasha's face lit up. "OH! Pan you have a boyfriend?"

"Well yes." Pan replied shyly.

Trunks sat in his office reviewing that last of the documentation for the newly completed lighting system while occasionally taking bites of his lunch. He leaned back in his chair and let out a sigh.

'Thank God that part's over with. We might not have gotten in done in time if not for the progress me and Pan made earlier this week. I should really talk to her and try to explain myself. I must have come off like an idiot. _Must have_, no, I did. I totally looked like an idiot. What was I even thinking saying that?'

"She is different though." Trunks said to him to himself, thinking about the afternoon they worked together, and the glances they had shared during the meetings. "What has gotten into me?"

At that moment his office door flew open and his mother made her way inside.

"I swear Trunks. Sometimes I wish you weren't always in your office. It would make some of my days a little more interesting if I had to track you down."

"Hello mother." Trunks said he said in a bored manner. 'Just the person I want to interrupt my confusing train of thoughts.' He thought sarcastically.

"Actually…. I did have that courtesy earlier this week." Bulma said with a sly smile.

"And exactly what courtesy was that mother?" Trunks tried to continue skimming the finished documentation.

"Why, you not being in your office and me having to track you down. Really Trunks, I just mention it. Pay attention." Bulma crossed her arms and gave her son a stern look.

Trunks felt the impending blush to his face and tilted his head down slighted. Hoping his mother wouldn't notice and also hoping she hadn't tracked him down on said day. "Oh? And was your day made more interesting by that mother?" Trunks kept a cool tone hoping to not arise any suspicion.

"Oh it certainly did. I didn't have to look far either." Bulma gave her son a teasing smile.

Trunks pretended to keep reading the documentation and didn't give his mother the satisfaction of any reaction. "Mmhmm." He feigned disinterest.

"That's our newest engineer isn't it? I looked at her file, very impressive for a graduate hire. She's rather pretty too." She gave him a wink.

Trunks let out a sigh. "Her name is Pan, mother. Yes, she is very intelligent. In fact, she was crucial in meeting the latest deadline for the SecureEx project. She is just a friend mother."

"A friend huh? Don't you mean coworker? Or colleague?" She said with a raised eyebrow.

Trunks blushed as he realized his blunder. His mother was too perceptive for her own good. 'Is she a friend? I meant colleague right? An attractive colleague.' Trunks winced at his thoughts.

Bulma studied Trunks's reaction. 'I can't remember the last time I've saw him blush. I was only teasing him, but apparently this is more than I thought.'

"Well. If she's as bright as you say she is, then I guess I'll have to keep an eye on her. And maybe you as well."

"I don't know how you could keep any more of an 'eye on me' mother aside from moving your desk into my office." Trunks replied in an annoyed tone. "Please mother. There is nothing for you to be worried about. She is just a friend I promise. Now, I really need to proofread this documentation." He gave his mother a pleading look.

"I get the hint Trunks. I'll let you get back to work. I have a meeting to get to anyway, but don't think we're done discussing this mister." She furrowed her brow at him as she turned and left.

Trunks's head fell to the desk as we frowned. "Well. Shit."


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: **I do not own any characters from DB, DBZ, or DBGT

**A/N: So… I am very sorry that it has taken so long for this chapter to come out. The past few months have been pretty crazy, and I haven't had a lot of time to work on it due to big life events (all good, don't worry). I will have ample free time to work on this as well as other independent projects this summer. Thank you everyone who has reviewed so far. Especially Super Vegetarott! Your story is on my kindle to read right now, and I'll be reviewing as soon as I'm finished **** And thank you to the very lovely people in the Capsule Corp Creative Writers forum! You guys always help motivate me to do a little bit more by being so creative and motivated yourselves. As always, please review and give me any feedback you have (good or bad) I only want to get better, including any spelling/grammar errors you might see. I'll be going through my previous chapters soon to polish them (fix such errors). Again, thanks for reading and reviewing guys. **

Chapter 6

Pan sat at her parents' dining room table partaking in the ritual Sunday family dinner. The main topic of the evening had been her first week of work, and her father, Gohan, was more than pleased to hear every detail and was unable to take the prideful smile off his face.

"I am so proud of you Pan. I bet you're going to get promoted in no time." Gohan gushed.

Pan was looking down and stirring some peas around her plate; she gave a reluctant smile. She never knew how to respond to her father's overzealous praise or the fact he never seemed satisfied with her present level of accomplishments. He always seemed to expect her to achieve even more, and accomplish it as soon as the last triumph had been made.

Videl sensed her daughter's unease and decided it was time to move on from the current dinner conversation.

"So, Steve, how are things going at your office?" Videl gave Steve as nice of smile as she could manage. She wasn't overly fond of her daughter's boyfriend, and always felt the need to attempt to provoke him. The boy seemed unprovokable though and dull in wit, and an even duller conversationist.

"Oh, it's alright. Same old' same old' I guess. Nothing too exciting happens in insurance, thank goodness." He gave a slight chuckle and patted his mouth with his napkin and straightened his tie. Pan's mother always intimidated him, even with the simplest of questions. Feeling anxious as the conversation seemed to be staying on him he decided now would be a good time to take his leave. "Well, thank you very much for dinner Mister and Misses Son. As always, it was a pleasure, but I probably need to get home to retire for the evening."

Videl grasped at the moment to poke fun. "Retire? Why Steve, it's only 7:30. Did you need that extra time to clean your dentures and let your cats out?"

Steve replied with a confused face. "But I don't have any cats."

Pan sighed and gave her mother a scowl. "I'll walk you out Steve." She walked him to the door and turned to say goodbye.

"Lunch sometime this week?" He gave her a hopeful look.

"Oh sure! Why not? Wednesday alright?"

"I think we have some extra filing to do that day so it'll probably be pretty crazy. Would Thursday be alright?"

'Filing? Crazy?...'

"Um, okay. Yeah. I'll see you then." Pan gave him a chaste kiss goodbye and watched him get into his car. She turned to head back to the table and instead came face to face with her mother.

"What do you see in him?" Videl's arms were crossed and she gave her daughter a skeptical glare.

"We are not doing this again mother. Steve is a nice guy. I really don't know what it is you don't like about him." Pan moved again back towards the dining room as her mother followed.

"It's not that there's anything I don't like sweetie. It's more… there just isn't anything I do like. Honestly, I think he's boring, and just not the right match for you."

Pan immediately turned around with her mouth agape. She actually didn't have anything to cite in his defense. They had been together for a few years now and he was nice and polite and she had become comfortable. And she liked comfortable…. 'I think'. She grimaced a little having never thought about the situation before and therefore never doubting it. Her mother always gave her a hard time about Steve, but she had always brushed it off and never thought twice. Why, all of a sudden, did she have a tiny feeling that maybe it needed to be questioned? She closed her mother and pursed her lips in frustration and turned around to take her place at the table.

"Oh stop nit picking Videl. Steve is a fine boy." Gohan continued to eat his second helping of dinner. He was use to the women of his family arguing and always had an involuntary response to most squabbles.

Monday morning and Trunks sat at his desk. He had just arrived and was staring intently at the coffees that sat in front of him. His mouth twisted slightly in frustration as he rolled his eyes.

"Just take her the coffee, quit being such a twit." He snatched the coffees and made his way towards the cubicle area, and found Pan just arriving.

Pan sat down her bag when something caught her eye and she turned to investigate.

"Oh! Good morning Mr. Br… I mean Trunks." She gave him a small apologetic smile at her slip.

"Good morning Ms… Pan." He said with a playful smirk. She responded with a slight giggle. "I brought you an apology. In the form of warm delicious bean juice." He flinched slightly. 'You. Are. Ridiculous.'

"An apology? For what?" Trunks handed her the coffee as she gave him a bewildered look.

"Oh, you know, last week; When I made a complete ass out of myself and then avoided you for the rest of the week. I'm sure it came out insulting, but I meant it as a complement. I should have stayed and explained that, or the days following, but I guess I was a little embarrassed?" He scratched the back of his neck as he gave her a small self-conscious smile.

Pan blinked a few times, trying to comprehend why this man in front of her was so befuddled. She realized she had remained silent a bit too long and noticed Trunks looking a bit nervous.

"Well thank you. But really don't worry about it. I didn't find it insulting at all, and I don't think we should even bother discussing it anymore." She was trying to move past it quickly, in hopes of sparing his pride.

Trunks gave a surprised look. He kind of did want to discuss it, and felt a little disappointed she felt is necessary to disregard the event. He was about to voice this when he was abruptly interrupted.

"Discuss what?" A voice behind him made him scowl and pinch his nose. Pan peeked to the side to see who had spoken and froze in place when she saw.

"Gggood morning Mrs. Briefs." Pan stuttered as she smiled as best she could and tried to banish her nervousness to a deep dark place.

"Good Morning! You seem to already know who I am. Nice to meet you, Ms. Son I believe? Bulma crossed in front of Trunks and took Pan's hand to shake.

"Yes. Nice to meet you as well." Pan put on her best professional face and gave a small smile and nod.

"I've looked at your file Ms. Son." Pan swallowed a bit too hard. "Very impressive. Glad we've picked you up. Fresh out of university too; I'm always happy when another woman joins the team." Bulma gave her a wink and Pan let out a breath she hadn't realized she was holding. Bulma turned around to face her son. "Now, where were we? Oh yes… Discuss what?" She folded her arms and her son a suspicious stare.

"Nothing mother. " Trunks sent his mother a slight glare meaning for her to drop it.

"Don't give me that mister. If I had a nickel for every one of your messes I had to clean up…"

"Mother..." Trunks interrupted her as a blush came across his face. Pan tried very hard to hold in her giggle. "There is no mess here mother. I was just bringing Pan here some coffee to thank her for her help last week." He now had his head down hoping she would be satisfied with that answer.

"Oh. Well that was very nice of you Trunks. I still have my eye on you though." Bulma backed out of the cubicle keeping eye contact with Trunks and one hand on her hip. The other hand had two fingers pointing at her eyes and then one at him; while keeping a stern face the whole time.

After she was out of earshot Trunks sighed, and lifted his head back up and met Pan's face, trying her best to still hold in laughter.

"She seems so…. Pleasant." Her statement had a hint of sarcasm that he didn't miss. She did mean it slightly though. Bulma Briefs came off as an exceptional boss, and a less so mother.

"You have no idea." Trunks said exasperated.

"Oh I think I do. Do you think you're the only one with an overbearing mother? I've got a matched father to boot." Pan sat down at her desk still facing Trunks and crossed her arms with a bit of arrogance on her face.

Trunk let out a brief chuckle. "Let's not get into overbearing fathers. My mother is nothing compared to him." He gave her a smirk and added "Plus, your overbearing mother is not also your boss."

Pan threw her hands up in defeat and laughed. "Okay, okay. You win. Now, if you don't mind I have some work to do, _mister_." Pan added in a teasing manner as she took some papers out of her bag.

"Ha! Yes, of course, Ms… _Pan_." He turned to leave her cubicle.

"Hey!" Pan caught his attention and he turned around at the opening to look at her.

"I'll be keeping my eye on you." She said as she imitated the gesture Bulma had made to him before. The both laughed and he started walking towards his office. Smiling the whole way.


End file.
